The hardest part of leaving the Assembly was not leaving the job itself - since I will continue to work on similar issues. What was really tough was leaving the people. When you work the hours that we do, you become more than acquaintances with your co-workers - you become family.

We have more family dinners at work than, well, family dinners at home. We know more about each other's lives than we know about most other people in our lives. We pick on each other - maybe even bully each other. But you take it - just like you would take such abuse from a sibling.

So while the Assembly gave me great experience, knowledge and skills, what I am really thankful for is the second family it gave me.

As a parting memento, my co-workers drafted and presented me with a resolution of my accomplishments and my, uh, less spectacular moments. I have read this document so many times that I can almost recite it from memory.

And while I firmly believe that most of the clauses in the resolution should (and will) remain between my family and me, there are others that I want to share so you get a feeling for the kind, intelligent and amazing people I worked with:

"WHEREAS, though not due to lack of effort on your part, the esteemed Program and Counsel staff still does not know how to properly respect 'sexy airplanes,' ice hockey, and eating tuna fish out of a pouch for weeks at a time or completely understand the origins of Sho-shama Spanish, 'Bagheera,' and Steve Ammerman;...

"WHEREAS, you are terrible at monopoly and would never make it as a squirrel..."

I am now well into my next challenge. And, not surprisingly, part of overcoming this new career challenge will be to learn to enjoy going to work without the great familiar faces.